A/N: Hey guys. Well here it is chapter 9. May be rubbish but bear with me okay, I'm kinda running out of ideas. Oh and anyone who likes this fic, I'd recommend…no I don't recommend, I'm TELLING you to go to my profile. I have some new news for fans of this fic.

Summary – Realising that they will eventually run out of magic, Squall takes up Cloud's offer and learns how to use materia, but things don't start out as well as he thought. Meanwhile, Tifa invites everyone to visit Gold Saucer for the annual promotion. Squall becomes curious about Cloud's ability to tell when Squall is eavesdropping and asks him about it. But Cloud keeps quiet and Squall becomes suspicious.

Chapter 9 – On The Way There

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"Squally. Come on, it's time to get up."

Squall groaned, turned onto his side and put the pillow over his head. Rinoa stood up and sighed. She went over to his side of the bed and summoned her magic. She quickly lifted the pillow off Squall's head and sprayed her water spell on his face.

"HEY!" he choked. He sat up coughing, having swallowed a lot of water. Angelo jumped on the bed and started licking the water of his face. "What did you do that for?" he asked through Angelo's constant licking.

"You know why I did it. Come on, we have to leave early if we're going to make it to Gold Saucer by tonight. Tifa said it would take us about half a day to get there."

Squall sighed, pushed Angelo off and got up. He got dressed in his usual black leather jacket and pants, and went downstairs with Rinoa. Everyone was already downstairs but both Cloud and Barret were missing. Everyone each greeted each other with a good morning and went outside. It was dawn. Squall could see the sun behind the horizon, the light making the sky orange. It was beautiful. They each walked to the vehicle hire store in Kalm. There stood Barret, beside a jeep, and Cloud, beside two motorcycles. The group of seven walked up to them.

"Morning, guys." Cloud greeted them.

"Morning y'all." Barret said happily.

"Morning." They chorused back.

"Okay, I'll explain how we're getting there." Cloud said. "We'll drive to Junon, which is on the opposite side of those mountains," pointed to the mountains south-west of Kalm, "That'll take about 3 hours because we have to cross a marsh, then go through the Mythril Mines. From there we'll take a cruise boat to Costa Del Sol, the ride takes nearly five hours, and then we head to North Corel. There is a tram there that leads all the way to Gold Saucer. We can save at least 2 hours using the tram. Is everyone okay with this?"

They each nodded. Tifa however was a bit confused.

"Cloud, why didn't you just phone Cid and ask him to fly us there?" she asked

"I did," Cloud said sadly, "But the Sentinel isn't ready yet. One of the engines failed, but he should be able to fix that quite soon. And if we're lucky, he may be able to take us home in it tomorrow."

Tifa smiled at this. She liked flying on Cid's airships. She then thought how Cloud would feel. With his motion sickness, he can never really enjoy a trip on the ship.

"We'd better be goin'!" Barret said, snapping Tifa out of her trance.

"How are we supposed to fit ten people and a dog into a jeep?" Irvine asked.

"Don't be stupid Irvine!" Quistis said in her serious instructor voice, "We're not all going in the jeep you idiot."

"Six of us and Angelo will go in the jeep. The four that are left will pair up and take the motorbikes. I'm taking a motorbike since it doesn't affect my motion sickness."

"Oh, oh, I've got an idea!" Squealed a happy Selphie, as she bounced on her feet. Everyone looked at her and waited for her to tell them. "I'm the best driver so I'll drive the jeep and Squall is best at riding a motorbike. Rinoa can go with Squall, since their going out." They both blushed at this.  "So someone will have to go with Cloud and the rest of us will go in the jeep."

"I'll go with Cloud." Tifa volunteered. Barret smiled. He knew Tifa's feelings for Cloud and vice versa, but they both kept it to themselves. He thought it was a shame. they would make a great couple, having known each other almost all their lives.

"Okay it's settled. Squall, Rinoa, Cloud and Tifa will take the bikes and the rest will take the jeep." Zell explained; making sure everyone was happy. The each nodded and went to their vehicles.

Both Cloud and Squall started their bikes before the girls climbed on behind them. The girls both wrapped their arms around the torso of their rider and held on tight. Rinoa's grip was stronger than Tifa's because she had never been on a bike before. Tifa had been on a bike with Cloud plenty of times so she knew how Cloud drove. Fast and recklessly.

In the jeep, Selphie and Irvine sat in the front, with Selphie driving. Marlene was on her dad's knee while Angelo was in the space behind the chairs. Rinoa had given her a chewy to keep her interested.

Soon they were off. They headed towards the Zolom Marsh with Cloud in the lead. It took them almost an hour to get to the marsh. When they came near Cloud slowed to a stop.

"What is it?" Squall aked, pulling up next to him. He watched Cloud as his aquamarine eyes scanned the area. He looked at Squall and pointed to the mountain. Squall looked where he was pointing and saw a cave entrance on the mountainside.

"Go in there, follow the vehicle path until you find the exit."

"Why…" Squall began to ask before he was cut off.

"Just do it!" Cloud told him sharply. He signalled the van to follow Squall and they all headed out towards the cave.

Squall was confused as to why Cloud had suddenly taken up the rear. But his confusion soon disappeared when he heard a loud screech from behind him. Everyone looked round and saw a large snake come up through the surface of the marsh. It was at least 50 feet long with, what looked like, fangs the size of Cloud.

"GO!!" Cloud shouted and Squall and Selphie quickly obeyed. They sped up their vehicles until the were going almost 100 miles per hour. Squall took a quick glance behind him. Cloud and Tifa were falling behind.

The next thing he saw was green fog surrounding Cloud and Tifa before it was fired at the giant snake. Cloud had used the same spell on Squall but this time, Cloud had obviously put a LOT MORE power behind it. The snake collapsed, very dead, before Cloud sped up.

They reached the cave a few minutes later, with Squall and his friends stunned.

"What the HELL was that thing!" Zell shouted from the jeep window. No one had gotten out of the jeep.

Cloud turned off his motorbike and started getting his breathe back. Casting Ultima spells drained his energy quickly, especially one that powerful.

"It was a Midgar Zolom. They're quite easy to kill, that's if you're crossing the marsh on foot. And if you know how to beat it. That one was extremely powerful."

"How did you know?" Rinoa asked.

"Sense materia." Squall answered, surprising everyone but Cloud, Tifa and Barret.

Cloud started up his motorbike and rode it towards the exit. The others quickly followed. In about 15 minutes they had reached the exit. Squall gasped as he looked around him. He could see a large fort to the south and high mountains to the north, but there was no sign of a city. Cloud started heading north-west and the others followed. It took them another half hour to reach a small cliff.

"Where do we go now?" Selphie asked out the jeep window.

Cloud looked back but didn't answer. Instead, he headed to the opposite side of the cliff. Again, Squall and his friends all gasped. It was a large city, though not big enough to be seen behind the cliff. They headed to the lower level of the city, where everything was dark. Squall looked at the ocean. It looked polluted, there were no fish and an electric tower came out of the water and reached up to the city above.

Still riding the bikes, and driving the jeep, everyone headed to the elevator. There were two elevators. One for vehicles, the other obviously for people. The ascended to the upper level in the vehicle lift. Once they exited the elevator, they came to the streets of Junon. Cloud suddenly remembered the first time he had come here. President Shinra had been killed a week previous and his son, Rufus had been appointed new President. Cloud had taken part in the welcoming ceremony so that he wouldn't be discovered. He had finally managed to sneak onto the cargo ship and head to Costa Del Sol. They drove down the quiet streets until they came to the dock.

Everyone gaped in awe.

The ship docked there was a cruiser, approximately 80 feet in length and it shone bright white. They stared at it before they were snapped out of it by the sailsman shouting,

"All passengers heading to Costa Del Sol, resort town extravaganza, step on board. The ship will be leaving in exactly 15 minutes."

A/N: There you have it. One whole chapter in one night. Sorry if its crap, but I am running out of ideas after all. R & R and PLEEEAAASSE check out my profile. New news has been added. :D